"Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up," the silver pony asked.

She nodded. "I wanted to be Rainbow Dash."

"And when you found out you couldn't be Rainbow Dash, what did you want to be?"

The light blue mare thought for a moment. "I wanted to be as fast as Rainbow Dash."

"And what did you want to be when you found out you couldn't be that fast?"

"I wanted to fly as high as Rainbow Dash."

"And when you found out that you weren't the strongest flier and you couldn't fly that high, what did you want to be?"

"I settled for being a weather pony like Rainbow Dash." The cyan pony looked at the ground, discouraged that she had given up on many of her dreams. "What about you, grandma? You were one of the fastest and most amazing ponies that the Wonderbolts ever had. What did you want to be when you grew up?"

The elderly silver pony stretched gently and smiled at her granddaughter. "When I was a child, I wanted to be Rainbow Dash."

The cyan pony nearly fell over from the irony of it all. "But you were a Wonderbolt! Everyone knows the one thing Rainbow Dash always wanted was to be a part of the Wonderbolts!"

The silver mare nodded. "Yes, she did. But fewer know that she turned them down when they offered her a position on the flight team. She was the very first pegasus to ever be offered a position and turn it down."

"But why would you still want to be her after she had turned down her dream?"

The elder mare closed her eyes, recalling all of the times she had seen Rainbow Dash fly. All of the amazing things they had heard about Rainbow Dash being a part of even after she had turned down the Wonderbolts. "Because I wish I had been that brave. Brave enough to stare my one truest desire in the face and say 'No.' I wish I was able to have turned down the Wonderbolts and still go on to do amazing things that ponies would talk about in hushed voices. As if, if they spoke too loudly someone would try to disprove the fanciful story and they only wanted to live in their fantasy world that was, in fact, reality.

"I knew when the Wonderbolts offered me a position on a flight team that I would take it. That would be my penultimate position. But I wished I could have turned it down. I wished I could've said 'no' and still gone on to be bigger than the Wonderbolts themselves. No, my dear, you're old granny isn't that brave. Not by a long shot."

"I don't understand. Why tell me all of this now," the cyan mare asked.

"Because I want to ask you another question, dear. Do you like being a weather pony?"

"Well, sure. I'm good at it and I've made a lot of new friends. And I figure if I can't do what I really want to then doing something important to others is a good tradeoff."

"Alright. Just do your old granny one favor."

"What's that?"

"If you ever get the chance to pursue your dream. Even the smallest glimmer of hope that you might somehow succeed, I want you to quit that weather job and jump at the chance, no matter how small it may be. I want you to follow that dream of yours. Find a way to strengthen your wings and get back in the sky. Fly high and fast."

The light blue mare nodded. "I promise. If I ever get the chance to try and be the next Rainbow Dash, I'll go for it."

The silver mare smiled and laid back in her hospital bed. "Thank you, dear. But I must say, if you're going to be the next Rainbow Dash, you're going to need to dye your mane," she said with her signature coy smile.